Abstract: The Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB motherboard is a fully featured mainstream-gaming platform based around the Intel Z77 chipset and bundled with a Wireless 802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0 PCI Express x1 card, not to mention all the bells and whistles of a highly expandable workstation platform and a good set of overclocking tools.88% Rating:

Total System Power Draw and Conclusions

System Power Draw

PCSTATS
measures total system power draw (watts) with the aid of an Extech 380803 AC
Power Analyzer and A-PFC compliant Seasonic SS-760KM power supply. The meter is placed
between the 120V AC outlet and the PC power supply and the computer stressed.
Total system power draw is recorded and compared to the PC's idle state.

Total System Power Draw -
GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB

Idle

CPU
Loaded

GFX
Loaded

On nVidia Geforce GTX470graphics.

87W

159W

225W

On SandyBridge integrated graphics

36W

105W

79W

(Idel @ desktop)

(via Prime95)

(via
3DM06)

Total System Power Draw -
GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB

Idle

CPU
Loaded

GFX
Loaded

On nVidia Geforce GTX470graphics.

88W

150W

270W

On IvyBridge integrated graphics

36W

150W

118W

(Idel @ desktop)

(via Prime95)

(via
3DM06)

Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB motherboard uses 'Driver
MOSFETs' which combine the functions of a driver, high MOSFET and low MOSFET
into one small power-efficient board mounted component. The power draw for each
test system, the first with a 32nm Sandybridge CPU in the drivers seat and the
second with a 22nm IvyBridge chip, are shown above for comparative purposes. Not
that the IVB graphics core seems to draw more power than the SNB IGP.

King of the Intel Z77 Platforms?

When it's all said and done,
Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB mobo manages to tick off every single check box for
what a workstation PC should have -- CrossfireX/SLI, 802.11bgn wireless
networking, VirtuMVP to leverage the IGP and discreet graphics, abundant PCI
Express expansion slots for future upgradeability, PCI Express 3.0 compliance
for killer gaming cards, a whack of SATAIII and USB 3.0 ports, support for
memory that can be overclocked to DDR3-2000 speeds, an mSATA slot for
configuring Intel SRT with a small SSD, and on and on...

About all
this board lacks is an economical sticker price; retailing for ~$200USD puts the
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB motherboard in the higher end of the Intel Z77 spectrum. A good deal if
features are your main concern, but as all Intel Z77 boards perform pretty much
the same, less of one if pure performance figures are driving your purchasing
decisions.

Overclockers get a comprehensive set of tweaks and settings
in the 'UD5H-WB's UEFI BIOS, including voltage read points for the multimeter
crowd and pretty much everything the occasional overclocker will actually use.
Hardcore overclockers will undoubtedly turn their noses up in favour of some
$400 beastie from the expensive folks at ASUS to use with LN2, but that's to be
expected from frequency snobs.

As you've
seen in PCSTATS benchmark set, general system performance does not waver too
much on an Intel Z77 platform between SandyBridge and IvyBridge processors; this
isn't too surprising given the main difference between each chip is the 32nm to
22nm die shrink.

To sum
up, Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB motherboard is a well
featured mainstream board, the inclusion of an mSATA port is particularly
handy for building a compact computer system installed to a 128GB or 240GB mSATA
SSD - like most Ultrabook notebooks use. The GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB is another in a
great series of Intel Z77 motherboards from Gigabyte, so if you have a
little more cash to invest in your motherboard, the 'UD5H-WB will get you in the
game with a nice 802.11bgn wireless card. Grab this board while you can and
don't get stuck waiting for the next processor and chipset to drop from
Intel.